


Under Duress

by Simia4763



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - thanos loses, Avengers Tower, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Imprisonment, Language Barrier, Loki lives in the tower, Muteness, Nonhuman reader, Reader-Insert, SHIELD sucks, Selectively mute, Steve rogers kinda sucks, Tony Stark Has A Heart, bucky living in the tower, infinity war didnt hapen, interrogations, lokis punishment on earth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 16:17:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21930268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simia4763/pseuds/Simia4763
Summary: An alleged prisoner- silent and apathetic. You could be mistaken for a photograph before you visibly recognize Thor that is. With Shield breathing down their backs, the Avengers decide to enlist a certain Asgardian trickster serving his punishment with them to try and break you.Will you break under the scrutiny or do you have nothing to hide?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. 157 days

One hundred and fifty-seven days.

That’s how long I had been imprisoned in this glorified bubble. What a waste. All the money being thrown into keeping me captive; did this world not have anything better to do with their money? No better cause? Fixing infrastructure or the economy perhaps. But no. It was all wasted on a big fishbowl imprisoning someone who they had no right to imprison. 

Humans. Always sticking their noses where they don’t belong. 

It had been almost two weeks since I had last had any sort of human interaction- not that I minded. The less time I had to spend with the so-called, "heroes" the better. It was always the same story: One of their big strong all-knowing men would come barging through the door only to yell at me through the glass in some foreign tongue, all while pointing and slamming their hand against the glass as if it truly was a fishbowl before finally giving up and storming off only to repeat the process a week or so later. But this time was different.

The last time I had seen one of the men it was the one whose arrogance crossed the language barrier. He didn’t yell or prod at me, he simply pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of the glass- he watched me intently as if I were a wild animal in a zoo, which I suppose I was to him. A strange creature trapped in a habitat that was not its own. It was over an hour before he left with no words having been spoken.

The chair was still there, mocking me.

Who were they to imprison me anyways? I had done no harm to their planet- who would want to? It was pathetic. A pathetic world full of pathetic people. Pathetic people who have kept me as a prisoner for over 5 months- I suppose that doesn’t represent me very well.

I've spent a lot of time meditating. It was a part of my daily routine prior to my capture and there wasn't much else I could do while trapped in here. It helps me to blank out the way that I have whenever interacted with. Maybe all this meditating will help me somehow help me in the future somehow, I'm not sure how it could, but it might.

The click of the lock caused me to open my eyes as I became alert, though from anyone else's perspective I would appear to be meditating, unaware of the world around me.

It seems my captors have decided to come yell at me again. Not hitting the glass as if I was a goldfish in a bowl for a few weeks must have been very difficult for them, I'm surprised they were able to stay away as long as they did. Especially the blonde man. He came and yelled the most. He didn't yell at the beginning, but after a week of receiving no acknowledgement of his presence let alone any answers to his questions he got frustrated. I hope it's the blonde man, his yelling is the only form of entertainment I had access to right now. And oh boy was he entertaining. 

The door swings open as multiple people enter the room, some who feel familiar but a few presences who were foreign to me. They brought new friends. Interesting. 

I didn't look up at them. I, instead, continuing my meditation as chattering began amongst the men. I recognize some of the words spoken but they're speaking too fast for me to catch very much, not that it would matter that much anyways as I don't know what any of their words mean. 

One of them men separates himself from the group and walks to stand directly in front of me. There's something familiar about this man, although I can't quite place what it is. Something forces me to move my eyes to observe this man. All at once every hair on the back of my neck stands up as I realize why this man seems familiar. Stiffly, I stand and step forward so that I can look at this man face to face. With my eyes - full of distrust and distain - never leaving his, I spit out the first word I had uttered in months.

_"Asgardian"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot that this story was a thing but I found it and so I'm going through and rewriting some of it and then I'm going to do my best to finish it, once I figure out where the story's going that is.


	2. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark's POV, as the team struggles to find answers to their questions as well as decide what to do with you

_Tony's pov_

The girl stood and walked towards the barrier, tense, almost as if she was preparing to have to fight. Not to mention, the look in her eyes. This was the most alive any of them had ever seen her. Sure, she moved around but never when there was someone in the room. Tony was so glad that Jarvis was recording this, he couldn't wait to analyze everything about her body language from the time the door opened until now.

Suddenly, she spoke. For the first time in over 5 months, she spoke.

_"Äskärdhiksä[Asgardian]_ _"_

It was only one word but it was the first one she'd said since she's been here. Tony kept his composure, but inside his head he was jumping around doing victory dances. Sure, it's not a huge win for them, he has no idea what language that was, but Tony had a very detailed list of things he'd like to happen with her, one of which being "Get her to speak". Now if he could just figure out how to get her to speak again.

As Tony continued to run through scenarios and ways to make her speak, Thor turned away from the girl, straight out the door without saying a word as the others scrambled to follow him out. No one noticed how her eyes tracked Thor until he was out of sight. 

This wasn't the plan. They had brought Thor down here in hopes that he would be able to get some answers from her, not look at her and leave after she _**speaks her first word in months**_. 

“Point Break,” Tony shouted as he re-entered the common room, "What was that? She **spoke**! We could get more ans-"

“Who is she?” Thor cut Tony off, looking just as tense as the girl had been, "Why is she here?"

“We don’t know. She won’t respond to any of our questions. All we know is that she is female and that SHIELD has instructed us to hold her and get as much information from her as we can” Steve knew that explanation was weak, but what were they supposed to do? They’re the Avengers. He’s Steve Rodgers- Captain America. It’s not like they can just tell SHIELD and the American government no.

Tony began to fix himself a much needed drink as he started to fill Thor in about her time in the tower, "She has been here for 5 months, and yet nobody could elicit any sort of reaction from her, let alone any words. She sits there, eyes blank, and doesn't even acknowledge your presence. Steve tried to be nice and get her to cooperate for about a month at the beginning, but eventually he got frustrated and moved on to threats and banging on the barrier like a child throwing a tantrum. That doesn't faze her either. She's never spoken before.”

"Of course she hasn't, she doesn't speak this language," Thor said, almost as if he was talking to himself. 

Tony felt as if his brain just buffered. She doesn't speak English? What does she speak? They had Jarvis translate their words to every major language but still they got no response from her, "What do you mean she doesn't speak our language? What does she speak? We've tried dozens of languages and she's had no response to any of them" Maybe just one drink wouldn't be enough. 

"None of your Midgardian languages will get a reaction from her. She's not from here," Thor said, still deep in thought, "She seems to be Asgardian but something isn't quite right about it. I believe there's some form of magic just below the surface of her very being. Not just dormant magic either, she's using it for something. But what? She is in the same cell as Loki was, correct?"

Tony almost didn't recognize that Thor had asked him a question, still trying to process the plethora of information dumped on him and work it into his original lists and ideas, "Y-yeah. It's completely magic-proof. Well, not completely I guess. No magic can pass the barriers and you can't get teleport out, but it also doesn't stifle magic within its walls. If she is using magic like you suspect that means she's using it on something within her cell"

Both men sat silent for a moment, trying to think of what their next step should be. The only sounds being the clinking of the ice in Tony's drink. After a few minutes they both looked at each other, knowing what their next step should be as well as knowing how much of a scene it's going to cause when the others find out.

"We need to get Loki in here, fast"


	3. You want to WHAT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys were right, the rest of the team does not react well to their solution. Still Tony's POV.

"You want to **do WHAT**?!"

They were right, the rest of the team didn't respond too well to Tony and Thor's plans for the prisoner. The conference room had been thrown into chaos as soon as the plan had been laid out. Steve and Clint were by far the most vocally against the idea, although Tony could pick up how Natasha tensed up and how Bruce had the ghost of a frown on his face. Someone needed to step in, the way things were going undoubtedly would lead to disaster and no progress.

"I know you're upset, but this is our only option", Tony took a deep breath as his words fell on deaf ears, "not to mention, we are not asking you for permission" Oh that got their attention. All eyes were on Tony now as the shouting abruptly stopped, "Loki is going to be coming here, he is going to live in the tower, and he is going to help us regarding the girl's magic. He is the only one qualified to do this and his help could be vital to us finally being able to get some goddamn answers here", By the end of his short speech, Tony was frustrated.

"We are not allowing a known criminal who took over _**MY MIND**_ anywhere near the prisoner. Are you trying to get us all killed? If it does have magic, what's to stop those two from finding a way to team up, kill us, and escape. Hell, what's to stop them if Loki decides he wants to try his takeover again and use the prisoner to succeed?!", Clint was not having any of this, his time under the control of the mind-stone still in the forefront of his mind.

Tony could sympathize, if anyone knew how it felt to have PTSD it was Tony. Unfortunately, this was the only option. 

Thor stepped up, "Loki will be wearing magic suppressing bracelets, as will the girl if she should come out of her cell. Not to mention, besides the bracelets they will both be under the watchful eye of both myself and Stark. We will not allow another incident like the last one, and should my brother become a threat to anyone in the tower's wellbeing he will be punished accordingly. He is still a prisoner in Asgard, think of this as his community service"

As Thor spoke, Tony had projected the blueprints for the bracelets that he had drawn up specifically for this meeting. He'd finished making the bracelets yesterday, but he knew the rest of the team would need to see more than just "some jewelry". After the Battle of New York, Tony had begun researching and learning about magic suppression incase they ever found themselves in a situation like this, with a magical prisoner and psudo-prisoner. Loki isn't really a prisoner prisoner, but he's still going to kind of be a prisoner. He can't leave the floor, will have limited access to rooms, and be accompanied by either Thor or himself any time he went down to see the girl. 

To Tony's surprise, Clint seemed placated by the precautions they would be taking but Steve was the one who just wouldn't accept it. He had thought Clint would be the hardest one to convince, with his and Loki's history that is, but Steve is still ranting and Tony was growing quite tired of this.

"IF YOU HAVe accepted our plan, please, feel free to leave" Tony had to raise his voice quite a bit a the beginning in order to be heard over Steve. Bruce jumped at the chance to get out of there and was out of his seat before Tony had finished his sentence. Natasha and Clint followed, though much less rushed. 

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Steve continued his rant on irresponsibility and selfishness without missing a beat. When he stopped to take a breath however, he looked up and saw that his words weren't reaching Thor or Tony, so he started over. Tony was not about to sit through the holy-er than thou speech again, he'd already heard 45 minutes of it and that was 45 minutes too many. Luckly, Thor seemed to be on the same page as Tony.

"QUIET!", Thor bellowed, fed up with Steve at this point, "Loki is coming and nothing you say can change that. I do not understand why you are so against this, how is it any different from your Winter Soldier coming to live here?"

Steve looked bewildered and at the mention of his old friend he became very defensive, "His name is Bucky and don't you dare compare him to that mass murdering son of a bitch you call a brother"

"Woah, Captain, please. Language!" Tony knew this wouldn't help the situation any but it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

If looks could kill, Tony would be dead on the ground from the way Steve glared at him, all while continuing his defense, "Bucky was brainwashed, he wasn't doing any of that of his own volition. Loki chose to kill people, he chose to come down here and try to take over. Bucky was used as a puppet, Loki is just pure evil"

It seems that Steve hit a nerve as Thor stood stiffly and coldly said, "Loki will be arriving in three days. Prepare yourself" before leaving the room, slamming the door so hard the whole room rattled. 

Having lost his main target, Steve turned to Tony, "Tony, how could you do this? Did you even stop to think about how this would mentally affect any of us after New York, especially Clint? Or were you too busy wrapped up in your own inventions and "genius" to care about how anyone else would feel"

That was not the right thing to say. 

Tony was mad now, whereas earlier he was just frustrated but now he's mad, "You're one to talk about bringing someone who could mentally affect the team. Did you stop to think about how any of us would feel before bringing Bucky back? How I would feel? He killed my parents! But no, all you cared about was bringing back the man that you once knew. Well let me tell you something _Captain_ ", Tony addressed Steve with such anger and disgust that it caused Steve to try and lean farther away from the man with no luck as Tony stalked towards him like a lion about to pounce on it's prey, "The man you used to know, back when you were just some scrawny kid in New York, HE'S GONE. Hydra DESTROYED any part of that man who may have been left. Did you even bring him to help him? Or did you bring him here in an attempt to cling on to the past? He will never be that person again", Tony was nearly in Steve's face at this point. He stepped back and walked towards the door. Just as he was partially out the door he turned back, needing to say one last thing, "Loki didn't do it of his own volition either, but he's not your childhood boytoy so I guess that doesn't matter"

The door shut behind Tony as he left Steve shocked. He almost resembled a high society woman being horrified by something "lower class", he might as well have his hand on his chest while saying something like, "Why I never", or, "Oh goodness me" . His shock was quickly replaced with anger though.

Afterwards, no one mentioned the fist sized hole in the conference room wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I highkey forgot this exsisted and just rediscovered it earlier tonight. I've gone in and re-did the first two chapters but the story's still in the same place and not that much plot-wise has changed. I'm going to try to figure out where this story is going and finish it. Here's to hoping.


	4. Hide and Seek?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our prisoner meets someone new. Friend? Foe? Who knows.

_Prisoner's POV_

Once the door shut after the men, you let loose a scream that you just couldn't hold in any longer, your fists pounding against the barrier in anger. Had there been anything in your bubble with you, you likely would have attacked that as well, but you were alone. You couldn't keep up your anger for very long, sliding down a wall as fatigue caught up with you.

You're lucky you aren't human, if you were you would have died a long time ago from hunger or dehydration. Your captors seemed to forget to feed you, providing a small meal two or three times a week, max. It was beginning to take a toll on you, leaving you weak and gaunt. Maybe this was their plan, starve you until you're too weak to fight back and then torture information out of you. Its not a terrible plan, though if they waited too long all they would get out of their torture was a corpse and no answers. What information could they want out of you though? You had only been in Midgard for a few months before being attacked and brought here, could they want answers about your time before coming here? None of it was pleasant, you can't imagine why they would want to know about any of that. Do they not realize that you came to this gods awful realm for a reason?

You're so caught up in your thoughts that you almost don't notice that the door's opening. Almost. The men that were here earlier must have forgotten to relock the door after leaving in such a hurry since you didn't hear the loud click of the lock turning. 

A man quickly entered the room and shut the door behind him. You hadn't met this man before, he hadn't ever come to try to get something out of you. Maybe they sent him in for that very reason, hoping that since he's a new face you'll respond better to him. As much as you didn't want to play into their schemes, you found yourself watching the man intently with your eyes as he came further into the room. He almost looked lost, although once he saw the chair he seemed less lost. He said no words so you took the time to check yourself and determine any damage you'd caused from your outburst. Besides the bleeding knuckles and sore throat, everything was okay. 

Now that you knew you were fine, you decided to analyze the man now sitting across from you. 

He looked exhausted, slouched in the chair with his head leaning back and eyes closed. He was pretty, for a human you suppose. His long, almost wavy hair seemed to fit him. You didn't know this man, but it just seemed right. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt so you didn't notice right away but as you continued looking him over you noticed something odd. His hand, it seemed to be metal. Perhaps its some kind of weapon, like a glove or something, though it could also be some sort of replacement if he'd lost his arm somehow. You wondered how high up his arm the metal went. As you pondered this, the man sat back up and opened his eyes again. He had blue eyes. Interesting.

Your earlier assessment was correct, he was quite pretty.

Seeing that you were looking at him he seemed to become almost intrigued. If he was with the other men then perhaps they had told him about your tendency to ignore people, not even looking at them. He didn't seem to ask any questions when he spoke, "I just need a minute away. Somewhere quiet. Just for a little bit", he spoke the same language as the other men, though his voice was much rougher. He sounded like he hadn't used it much, likely that's how you sounded when addressing the asgardian earlier. You don't know what he said, but you found yourself not to feel threatened by him like you had with all the rest. It was very strange. 

Seeing the blank look on your face as you simply blinked back at him, he seemed to decide to ask a few questions, not caring whether he'd get an answer back or not. "Do you have a name?", something you couldn't quite place quickly flashed across his face, "You don't speak English, do you?" When your face stayed frozen, he made a decision. He began to gesture to himself, "James", he must have seen something in your face because he continued on, "My name is James. Suppose that doesn't mean much to you though if you can't understand me"

James

Was that his name? He did say it while tapping his chest, but then he also used it surrounded by other words you don't know. Even if that's not his name, you began to call him James in your mind. 

He seemed content somehow, almost as if he knew that a little bit of that had gotten through to you. He didn't ask any more questions for a little while, instead slouching again and closing his eyes. He seemed tired. Everything about his presence felt exhausted, the bags under his eyes just confirming your suspicion. Does he not sleep? Why not? Well, you know you aren't really one to talk about good sleep habits. But that's different. You're trapped, it's not safe for you to sleep for too long or too deep. He doesn't seem to be a prisoner. Why wasn't he sleeping? Was there a threat to him out there, outside of this room? He seemed to be hiding from something or someone given how he slipped in the room, is he in danger?

You were going down a rabbit hole. You don't really care if he is or isn't in danger, there was nothing you could do even if he was. The only thing you were emotionally capable of caring about right now was this bubble you're in, and even that you can't do anything about. 

He stayed there for a little while, sometimes with his eyes closed, sometimes looking at you, and sometimes looking off in the distance in a thousand yard stare. It was only when a voice appeared and spoke to him that he got up to leave. 

_Sergeant Barnes, Captain Rogers has finished his training and is looking for you_

Your eyes darted to the other side of the room before quickly returning them to their previous resting place, on James. You had never heard that voice before. Where was it coming from? What happened to it? 

James seemed to notice your slip and he gave you a tight lipped smile and a small nod as he stood up and began walking to the door. Before you could even realize what you were doing, you slipped again,

"James"

Had you said that out loud? Based on how he froze and tilted his head in your direction, you had. It sounded very different from when he had said it as your mouth struggled to create the foreign sounds, but it was close enough for him to understand. 

His lips twitched almost as if it had tried to smile but decided against it, and without saying a word he exited the room. 

It would be a few hours before you heard the sound of the door's lock. It seems they realized their error. You suppose that means that there's no chance of James visiting again anytime soon. But why did you want him to come by again? He's a stranger. You don't trust him. He could just be pretending in order to get information out of you. But somehow you don't think he is just pretending. He seemed broken, beaten down, haunted. You were all to familiar with being broken, and you knew that you can't fake that look in his eyes.


	5. Wait what just happened

After the disaster of a team meeting, Tony retreated off to spend some time in his lab either tinkering some more with Loki's restraining bracelets, processing all of the new information Thor had given him, or watching hours of footage of the prisoner to try and analyze some of her behavior; although now knowing that she's not human caused him to go back through past footage he had already analyzed and reanalyzing.

It was during these hours of watching security footage that Tony happened across something he found very, very interesting. It started when he decided to go and rewatch Thor and the prisoner's interaction. She seems unbothered by their presence up until the point where Thor goes to stand in front of her. He can tell exactly when she registered Thor as her body suddenly goes rigid. He can see the disdain and distrust in her movements and even her tone. However, the most interesting part of the footage happened after he and Thor had left. Up until this point the prisoner was very collected, stone-faced, and even when alone she showed very little of her emotions. However, this was the first break in her façade that he had seen. He watches her mask crumble as she screams and seemingly attacks the barrier. Normally he would have had the audio on, after all she is making audible noises which is uncommon enough, but listening to her screams full of anger and desperation were just too much to handle while also watching her movements. He watches her finally seemingly tire herself out and side slowly down the back wall in a way that seemed defeated and exhausted.

Tony realized it had been a while since he had had any sort of food or water sent in to you, his own schedule causing him to eat sporadically and less frequently than he should, and his own schedule affected the prisoner's schedule as well. He made sure to make a note to learn from Thor the best way to feed her as a non-midgardian, and to see if Loki can better identify just what exactly she are in the hopes that Tony can then provide more specific foods for her. Perhaps receiving foods that were more familiar would cause her to lower her guard a bit.

Just when he was about to turn the footage off to revise his notes, something very interesting happens, reigniting Tony's curiosity. Tony watches, intrigued as none other than Sergeant Barnes hustles his way into the room as if he were hiding from someone. If he remembers correctly, Tony remembers Rodgers and Barnes having an argument that morning as he had made a "trouble in paradise" type comment that Tony found very funny but no one else did. Perhaps that added to Steve's mood during the meeting. Oh well. The prisoner doesn't react much to him besides becoming a bit on guard as she did every time someone entered the room, but then she did something very interesting. She looked at him. She looked at him not in the way that she looks at everyone else where she is seemingly not registering that someone is in front of her, lost in her own world. She looked at him like she was taking in every detail of the man who was now sitting in front of her. Her mask seemed to slip once again, but instead of the distrust or the anger she showed earlier, she seemed intrigued. That intrigue quickly turned to surprise as Barnes begins speaking to her.

Tony scrambles to get the audio turned back on and is astounded as Barnes realizes within half an hour something that had taken him weeks to figure out. She didn't speak English. Barnes tells her his name and something in her face leads Tony to think that she may have registered some of what had been said. His theory was confirmed when Barnes was leaving and she walked up to the glass again and uttered her second word of the day, or ever, "James". Tony would deny it if anyone asked but he whooped in excitement at her speaking again. That's twice in one day! In all the weeks that she had been in the tower she had never said a single word, and within the span of this one day she had spoken twice! Clearly English was not a language she was familiar with, her attempt at repeating Barnes' name was nearly unrecognizable with her thick accent from whatever her first language was, but her attempt was at least recognizable enough to be able to know what she tried to say.

Tony was elated, there was so much to do with all this new information. He had to talk to Thor, he had to talk to Barnes, he had to try and talk to her, he needed to rewatch all of this, take new notes, theorize, etc., etc., etc.. there was just too much for him to do. Just as he began to rush off to begin his new list of tasks, he realized there was one thing he needed to do before anything else.

"Jarvis, lock the door to the cell room"


	6. Busted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky has a discussion and realizes its time to make a change in his life

Bucky's POV

* * *

_Mr. Barnes, Mr. Stark has requested your presence in his lab_

Well that probably wasn't good. Tony never called anyone to his lab except for the spider kid and Banner, and he had never called for Bucky ever. What could he have possibly done to upset Stark? I mean to be fair the Solider did a lot that could upset Stark, but Bucky has already been confronted about that and he himself had never done anything to warrant Stark's request... has he?

As Bucky recounts his movements over the past few days, Jarvis breaks his thoughts once again. 

_Mr. Stark requests your presence..._ _immediately_

Well there's no time left to try and prepare himself for what could happen. As Bucky made his way to the lab he realized what this could be about. Could this be about that girl? Okay yes he had been told by Steve that he wasn't supposed to go in that room, but he just needed an escape for a minute and she seemed harmless. Well maybe not **harmless** , but within the cell she couldn't hurt him... right? Well anyways, Stark wouldn't be calling him up if he had simply put his own safety at risk, so he must have done something else. Oh god, what does Stark want?

Before he's able to work himself up into a panic attack, he's knocking on the door and entering the lab to a disheveled looking Tony. He looks like he hasn't slept in days, and based off the number of half empty coffee mugs scattered across the room, he hasn't. Bucky's never seen Stark like this, normally the man does everything in his power to put up his cool, calm, and suave front. This must be important if he's not concerned about how he's being seen right now. 

Bucky's suspicions as to why he's here are confirmed as footage of him in the room with the girl pops up on the screen in front of him. He sucks in his breath as he's able to watch the girl and how she watched him when he wasn't looking, the quality of Stark's security and the sheer number of cameras in that room allowing him to see her much better than he had been able to in the moment. The intensity in her dark eyes capturing his attention, almost as if they put him under a spell.

A spell that was quickly broken by Tony clearing his throat before speaking, "So it seems you've met the newest guest of the tower," 

Bucky goes to attempt and defend himself but Tony cuts him off, "I'm not mad, I'm not throwing you to the dogs of SHIELD or into a cell or something if that's what you're concerned about" Tony gestures for Bucky to take a seat and then sits acoss from him as he continues, "Now under normal circumstances I wouldn't be telling you this, but as you may be able to tell these aren't normal circumstances. I'm blown away by your interaction with the prisoner, honestly shocked. I've spent months trying to get her to speak and have only now achieved that seemingly bu accident, but you. You were able to not only break her out of her voluntary ignoring trance but you figured out that she couldn't speak english and were able to get her to speak within a few hours. It's phenomenal"

Tony turns to rewatch as she had spoke to Bucky while he was leaving that day, leaving Bucky to adjust to everything he'd just heard. 

"Why is she a prisoner?", evidently this was not the question Stark had expected based on the split second surprise that flitted across his face before it settled once again. 

Standing, Stark gathered some papers which he handed to Bucky as he began to explain, "After Loki's invasion SHIELD put new protocols into place should a being from Asgard and Asgard adjacent worlds appear on Earth again. A few months ago we recieved a message that one of these beings had been detected in New York and were to bring them in for questioning. We found her 3 days later in an ally. It had appeared that she'd been living there for atleast a week before we found her,"

Bucky looked up from the papers at learning of how she was found. Tony had pulled new photos up onto the screen. Rather than the security footage it seemed to now be surveillance photos and footage of the team confronting her. She looked the same as she did now, although she seemed much more gaunt now and in this footage she was wearing some type of armor. It's a wonder that she was able to stay undetected from the general public before they found her.

"We were originally supposed to only question her on her intentions and reasons for being on Earth, but she was immediatly hostile to us and attacked, leading us to have to bring her into SHIELD HQ once we were able to regain control over the situation. They then turned her over to us with the instructions that we were to interrogate her and force her to reveal her intentions as they now assumed they were malicious"

Wait that's the entire reason she's been in captivity for months? She was from a different planet and reacted negativly to a band of men in combat uniforms hostlily confronting her? That was such bullshit, and Bucky vocalized that to Stark who in turn sighed and turned away towards the footage that was still playing. 

After a few beats of silence, Stark spoke again, "I need your help. I want you to help us with. She spoke to you, that means something, and I think we could use that to our advantage" 

Bucky looked up in surprise. Stark wanted him to go in there and try to manipulate this girl into revealing her bad intentions.

Seeing the look on Bucky's face, Tony quickly began to try and explain what he meant, "I don't want you to interrogate her or try to trick her. No. I don't like having her here as a prisoner, I don't like her being a prisoner at all. I think SHIELD is vastly overreacting to Loki and this girl was caught up in that. But I'm fascinated. I want to learn more about her, wherever she's from, and whatever she is. No, what I am trying to ask you is I would like for you to simply spend time with her. You'll be allowed free access to her room and can go in there whenever. I want to see how she interacts with somebody who isn't trying to pull information out of her or yelling at her" Tony then began coughing in a way that seemed to cover up him saying "Steve".

Well that doesn't sound too bad. Just be able to go in there whenever he wants? And he doesn't have to try to get any information out of her. That doesn't seem like such a bad deal. But there's still one problem. 

"Have you talked about this with Steve?", based on how Tony's face scrunched up, Bucky was willing to go out on a limb and guess that no, Tony hadn't told Steve all of this, "He's not going to like this"

This seems to flip some sort of switch inside Tony, "Steve isn't your father or your keeper. You are a grown ass geriatric man and you can make your own decisions," Bucky wasn't expecting Tony to care about any of this, it was kind of surprising. Tony sighed and sat down again, seemingly calmer now, "I know that you and I haven't had the best past. There were a lot of issues. But I'm going to tell you something and if you ever repeat it I will deny it, but I don't like how controlling Steve is over you. Why does he get to choose what you can and can't do?" 

Bucky knew he was right. He'd been allowing Steve to take total control after he came back. It wasn't until he was in Wakanda that he started to make his own decisions again, and now that he's back in the tower once more he's finding it difficult to readjust to Steve making all of his decisions for him again. He's not the same broken man he was when Steve first found him. 

Maybe this could be a step towards showing Steve that he didn't need him to make his choices for him anymore.

"Okay. I think your idea sounds alright. I'm in"


End file.
